Ellis Planning Associates Inc.

Ellis Planning Associates Inc. is an established team of strategic planning, community health, evaluation, program development, and training consultants, specializing in building the capacities of organizations and individuals in the public, non-profit, philanthropic, and small business sectors. We have offices in Nevada City, Sacramento, and the Bay Area.

We believe in a highly personal and engaged approach, led by our principal consultant, Galen Ellis, MPH. With over 30 years ofexperience helping organizations thrive, Galen works closely on each project, limiting the number of consultancies we work on at one time so that yours is in the forefront of our attention. Questions are answered quickly, and scheduling is as flexible as possible.

Our services are tailored to the specific needs of our clients and we encourage high levels of input and participation from program staff and community stakeholders. We offer tools and approaches that simplify involvement and collaboration.

Galen always made my job easier with her high level of preparation, deeply thought-out options in response to difficult situations, and effective facilitation of group decisions.

— Liz Padral

Executive Director, State Independent Living Council (SILC)

For the last 18 months, Galen has been part of a consultant team to assist our Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Program in developing a five year strategic plan to address racial and ethnic health inequities. We have been consistently impressed by Galen’s ability to creatively engage our staff in all levels of planning, from needs assessment to logic model evaluation planning. For example, Galen designed a brilliant training program that brought together community members and staff from our hardest hit census tracts to learn about, analyze, and interpret all kinds of data to determine priorities for our strategic plan. Not only did we actively engage with the data and each other, but we laughed a lot and had a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

— Vicki Alexander

City of Berkeley Maternal Child Adolescent Health

Galen and her team developed ‘What’s Up? Wellness Checkups,’ a successful and highly regarded program for Nevada County’s Behavioral Health Department that screens and counsels hundreds of high school students for depression, anxiety, and suicidality. While Galen has a deep understanding of how to build, sustain, and evaluate effective community programs, she also brings her passion for wellness to the table as a member of our county’s Mental Health Services Act Steering Committee. I’ve known her as an excellent organizational change consultant, but also in her capacity as a program manager for Nevada County’s Public Health Department where she oversaw all of our health and wellness programs and collaborated closely with the Behavioral Health Department, seeking to bridge the community health and mental health silos. She is a strategic thinker, an effective team leader, and a trustworthy collaborator.

— Rebecca Slade

Interim Behavioral Health Director, Nevada County

Over a period of a year, Galen provided consultation and training to our Prevention Services Unit in research-based planning. With great humor and skill, she guided our staff and youth council to identify priorities and data needs, develop logic models, and design a youth-led research project that has put our prevention work on the map. This has noticeably increased our effectiveness and has allowed us to protect precious resources in a time when prevention dollars are shrinking.

— Kathy Delaney

Mariposa County Prevention Services

On behalf of Plumas County Public Health Agency, I would like to thank you for your help during our recent PHAB Accreditation site visit. Surprise! Our high quality, values-driven strategic plan was recognized by our site visitors as outstanding. We could not have reached this milestone without our ongoing partnership with you. I look forward to continuing the great work we do together for the people of Plumas County.

Andrew Woodruff and Zach Revene

Public Health Director and Associate Public Health Director

Galen has been highly supportive of SYRCL and the Yuba River, leading deep visioning and planning workshops with our team. In the workshops, she listened well while creatively helping the team to think through critical priority setting exercises together. Her approach is fun yet highly productive; she had us still going strong at the end of a full day of meeting. Her extraordinary skills and talents have helped focus and accelerate our growth. She offers a safe place to ask hard questions, and has inspired us with new tools in our work to protect the watershed.

— Caleb Dardick

Executive Director, SYRCL

I have been fortunate to observe Galen’s skillful methods for engaging and supporting clients in our work together. She supported us in planning and facilitating collaborative and steering committee meetings, developing and refining surveys and evaluations, and helping us to develop new skills to lead virtual meetings. She assisted on multiple occasions to provide targeted technical assistance and trainings on topics related to meeting facilitation and evaluation. Local health department staff have sought out her technical expertise on multiple occasions, and participants have highly rated her trainings. Galen is consistently thoughtful, encouraging, dedicated, and creative. I recommend Galen’s services to any organization that is looking for a consultant who is warm, reliable, process-driven, and committed to creating a culture of authentic engagement.

— Sarah Underwood

Training Program Administrator for the Delta Gold Country Training Resource Center

Galen has a keen understanding of what it takes to build effective non-profit organizations. We had the privilege of working with Galen and her team in a number of capacities, mainly to develop our theory of change and program logic models. She was able to convince our members of the importance of identifying measurable outcomes that would lead us to achieving our overall mission and vision. She is engaging, big-hearted, and a wise community leader with grounded experience both in the non-profit and public sector world, and brings a much-needed entrepreneurial spirit to her clients. Galen and her team base their approach on a set of core values that are reflected in her relationships with clients: she strongly values authenticity and creativity; seeing the full potential of individuals and organizations; and acting with patience, humor, acceptance and compassion.

— Gary H. Quehl, PhD

co-founder and former board member of the Center for Nonprofit Leadership

Working with Galen in various group settings, and among diverse community sectors, on youth substance abuse prevention and coalition-building, she’s always drawn my attention with her perspective, broad understanding, and clear way of explaining things. Out of all of my experiences sitting in on workshops, seminars, and summits, Galen has by far provided the best facilitation, and I always walk away inspired to make a difference, with a deeper understanding of how to make that happen.

—Tasha Meyer

Executive Director, Hope Rising

Core Values

QUALITY

We act with integrity and strive for excellence in all our interactions and work products. Our principal consultant works closely on each project, limiting the number of consultancies we work on at one time so that each one is in the forefront of our attention.

BALANCE

We maintain healthy boundaries that promote personal, professional and organizational sustainability.

TEAMWORK

We value synergy and creativity resulting form internal and external collaboration.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

We foster connections that respect and strengthen communities and promote social justice and civic responsibility.

AUTHENTICITY AND CREATIVITY

We engage in what we love; our work is an expression of our deepest creative impulses.

RECOGNIZING AND TAPPING STRENGTHS

Recognizing that we are more than what we often perceive ourselves to be, we find ways to unleash the full potential of our clients, our colleagues, and ourselves.

COURAGE AND HUMILITY

We are bold in our commitment to growth and expansion, while acknowledging our vulnerabilities and our interdependence with others.

COMPASSION AND HUMOR

We act with patience, humor, acceptance, and compassion, both internally and externally.